E-cigs still banned on campus despite vapor

Oct. 30, 2013

As e-cigs become more popular, campus administration is questioning its ban. / Photo by Kyle Bates.

Written by

Cole Hodge

Contributing Writer

The university’s tobacco free policy becomes hazy at the mention of electronic cigarettes.

Despite the fact that there is no tobacco, the Food and Drug Administration still classifies them under tobacco substances, which allows the university to ban them. With the device’s growing popularity, administration is unsure about how and if they can change the policy.

“That’s a good question,” said Sidney McPhee, university president. “We did not at the time of developing that policy take into consideration electronic cigarettes. I [plan] to bring it back to the university committee to get more clarification.”

The campus officially became “smoke-free” last year. All forms of tobacco products were officially banned on school property.

Some students feel that the school is wrongly banning electronic cigarettes.

“I haven’t inhaled a puff of a cigarette in two years with the help of electronic cigarettes. I’ve used them in class, on airplanes, and just about everywhere I go,” said Alex Connolly, a sophomore liberal arts major.

Students can find electronic cigarettes where tobacco products are regularly sold. They are battery powered and contain nicotine vapor, which makes them “smokeless.”

Some students prefer electronic cigarettes to traditional because of the significant difference in cost.

A one to two-day disposable electronic cigarette costs between $8 and $15, while regular cigarettes can cost up to $6 a pack.

Basic reusable e-cig starter packages, such as the blu e-cig, can range between $20 and $80. More advanced e-cigs, such as vapors, which use refillable coils and flavored eliquid to produce water vapor, can range between $50 and $200.

If students smoke a pack of Marlboro Red cigarettes a day in Tennessee, they can spend up to $2,400 a year on cigarettes. In one year, a pack-a-day smoker would spend an average of $490 on vapor supplies, saving approximately $1,900 a year on cigarettes after the initial purchase of the e-cig.

“A good bit of students come to our store. As more people catch on, more and more people come in,” said Earren Tate, a manager at the Murfreesboro branch of the e-cig store Saffire Vapor.

Tate said that he personally has not had an actual cigarette since mid-January because of e-cigarettes.Some students still prefer using traditional cigarettes, but agree that the ban on e-cigs should be removed.

Although electronic cigarettes are advertised as a safer option than traditional cigarettes, the FDA says there is no way of being certain. According to the FDA, electronic cigarettes “have not been fully studied,” and there is no way of knowing whether they are completely “safer” than regular forms of tobacco products.